A Blessing Or A Curse
by Life will be good
Summary: Naruto has been cursed by an irreversible jutsu. He initially deals with it accordingly and searches for a cure but when he learns that there was no way to fix it, he resigns himself to his fate but he does not tell anyone. However, when Jiraiya takes him on an unexpected training trip how will he conceal it now? Warning: Potential Slash but it won't be Jiraiya/Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: A Blessing or a Curse**

 **Summary: Naruto had been cursed by an irreversible jutsu. He initially dealt with it accordingly but when he learned that there was no way to fix it. He resigned himself to his fate but he does not tell anyone. However, when Jiraiya takes him on an unexpected training trip how will he conceal it now?**

 **Warning: Potential Slash but it won't be Jiraiya/Naruto.**

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 **AN: Hello this is my second story but my first Naruto one. I'm so excited to write this. It is probably an extremely crazy and controversial idea but whatever.**

 **Read and Review~**

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 **Chapter One: A Puzzle**

 **Word Count: 1330**

Naruto swore violently as he came across another knot in his ever tangled hair. Why, oh, why did fate hate him so much? Perhaps he was a murderer in a past life and this was simply his retribution. He was usually not one to complain, opting to instead grin and bear it but this, this was breaking his resolve. In the beginning, it was very uncomfort but also intriguing. However, now it was a bit irritating. Of course, he would not complain. No, he decided he had angered God quite enough already. Besides it wasn't like there weren't any benefits. He certainly learned many things due to his new curse. He was treated kindly by people. He wasn't scorned like he usually was, especially among civilians. No one expected a petite girl to be tough or strong. No one looked at a sweet blonde girl hatefully. No one gave her damaged goods or expired food. No one forced her to pay outrageous prices. If harm were to befall Ru-Ru (the name of his female version), people helped her out. People did her small favors.

That's right you guessed it: Naruto Uzumaki had been cursed into a girl. Not a full girl, though. The universal wasn't kind enough for that. He was half and half. He would turn into a girl as soon as the sun set. How then you ask has that fact not been discovered by now? Naruto used a genjutsu to look like himself at night should anyone be watching but occasionally he would go out at night as a female. He searched everywhere for a way to break the curse. All those missions and odd jobs when he was younger finally paid off. He had connections in high and low places and used them to find the information he needed.

After a month of searching and full confirmation that nothing short of time-travel could reverse his condition, he resigned himself to his fate, opting to say YOLO and deal with it. He ended up liking the way his hair cascaded down his back and decided he wanted it in both forms. He cursed his decision but was unwilling to part with his gorgeous locks. They felt so nice and looked beautiful. He didn't want people to draw conclusions so they were hidden under a genjutsu during the day. There were many major drawbacks from his "condition". One of them being that he was now forced to deal with "that time of the month" and while he could escape the uncomfortableness during the day, he was still victim to the mood swings. He tries to control himself from snapping at Jiraiya but it was still difficult. Not that the toad sage was undeserving of the blame in any way but Naruto somehow always felt bad about being mean to him. Jiraiya had been forced to watch his students die and one of his teammates turn traitor. He also had to deal with the fact that that same teammate killed their sensei. He probably suffered in many other ways being the war veteran he was.

Naruto could still recall the way Jiraiya had woken up one night, reaching for something that wasn't there. He had folded in on himself moments later. Knees drawn to his chest, eyes glassy no doubt seeing some sort of memories. Naruto tried to shake him out of it which only caused him to close in more. He tried yelling, which only caused Jiraiya to flinch back. Not knowing what else to do, he recalled when a friend of his female form had soothed him and began to rub circles in his back while softly singing a sweet tune. He had no idea where the words were coming from but continued singing with his angelic feminine voice that he forgot to alter as Jiraiya slowly relaxed and fell asleep before crawling in his own bed and going to sleep as well.

He didn't know if Jiraiya remembered but since the next day there was no mention, he assumed that Jiraiya forgot or simply chose not to mention it to save them both the embarrassment.

One might think he was taking the situation a bit too calmly but the curse was mild in comparison to everything else that usually happened to him. Thus, the world kept moving and so did Naruto.

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Jiraiya sighed as he heard loud cursing coming from from the bathroom. He winced slightly as he heard language colorful enough that even Jiraiya would hesitant to use it casually. He briefly wondered what it was that got the gaki so worked up but chose not to investigate. The blonde hadn't wanted to go on the trip but it was important that he leave the village for his and and the village's sake. As they left, the blonde gave him a strange offer: he wouldn't say anything, do anything, or comment about his perverted tendencies not even calling him pervy sage essentially allowing him his privacy. Jiraiya couldn't allow him to do so without offering the same. Thus, Naruto's issues were his own concern. However, it was undeniable that the blond had changed since they last met, less than three months ago. He was more mature and composed than before. He also had less outbursts and seemed more subdued than ever before, it was disturbing but alas Naruto's problems were not his concerns.

Over the months another habit of Naruto was discovered. Whenever they stayed in an inn; Naruto occasionally spent an abnormally long time not super long as a couple hours or half a day but 20-35 minutes in the restroom, not that it affected Jiraiya very much. Already at least 6 months had passed since they had left Konoha. Jiraiya suspected that it would be a long while before they returned. He wondered if he could figure out what happened to the blonde somewhere along the way.

"What are the plans for the day, Jiraiya-sama?"He was interrupted from his musings by the subject of his thoughts.

Naruto had been sitting on his bed across from where Jiraiya sat at the tiny table in the room. He had been working on something in his lap but closed it as he began to answer.

Jiraiya grinned and said, "I'm off to do research. I won't be long. I'll be back tomorrow for sure."

And with that, he was out the window, disappearing to wherever to do his "research". Naruto rolled his eyes at the white haired toad sage's antics.

When Jiraiya returned, it was the middle of the night and almost a week had passed since he claimed he'd return "tomorrow". He wandered in tiredly and collapsed on the bed, the alcohol in his system forcing him to ignore the weird feeling in his stomach like he had forgotten something.

Jiraiya awoke in the evening of the next day, the sun just beginning to set, groaning and cursing himself for the thousandth time for drinking too much. He had an awful hangover and decided that a cold shower and coffee were in order.

Finally managing to wake himself up and aware, he realised that his blonde traveling companion was nowhere to be seen. Looking around he noticed that there was a note on the table. It was in Naruto's familiar handwriting.

 _Dear Jiraiya-sama,_

 _You were supposed to return 3 days prior to today, the 27th of January. I have decided to leave you a note so you are not unaware of my location. I have gone to the forest to the east of the town in order to train. I doubt you'll be worried but I felt obligated to leave a note should you be concerned or merely curious. I hope your endeavors were fruitful._

 _See you soon,_

 _Naruto_

The letter was written 4 days ago. Doesn't that idiot know how much danger he is in? Jiraiya cursed and jumped out the window, intent on finding the blond and knocking some sense into him.

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 **Sorry about the Cliffhanger but I had to.**

 **Hope you liked it! Please leave a review on your way out.**

 **Next Chapter should be up in the next two weeks.**

 **-Fairilina ~.~**


	2. Risks worth taking

**Title: A Blessing or a Curse**

 **Summary: Naruto had been cursed by an irreversible jutsu. He initially dealt with it accordingly but when he learned that there was no way to fix it. He resigned himself to his fate but he does not tell anyone. However, when Jiraiya takes him on an unexpected training trip how will he conceal it now?**

 **Warning: Potential Slash**

 **A/N: Hello again readers! Thank you to all those who reviewed, followed, favorited, or even read it. For those of you who are also following my other story: A Secret Worth Mentioning, that one is not going to be updated in awhile I got a couple flames that got me down in the dumps even though I promised not to be affected.**

 **Endereaper2013: That's awesome.**

 **Lazyfox21: That will be found out in due time.**

 **TigrezzTail: Yeah, Jiraiya can be quite a jerk. Yeah, that would be something I could see happening but fortunately it's not going to be happening at least not in my story.**

 **Now that that's out of the way, on with the story.**

Chapter 2

When Jiraiya had suddenly left, Naruto was not surprised. He set up wards around their room and released the henge hiding his hair, combed through it, and began to practice seals as he waited for his hair to dry.

When Jiraiya did not return the next day, Naruto was not surprised. He simply laid back and relaxed, relieved to have some time to himself and let his hair down, literally.

When Jiraiya did not return the third day, Naruto was annoyed but not surprised. He had enough of laying back and decided to get some training in. Naruto decided to grab his preferred training clothes which comprised of a loose black and blue track pants. He decided to leave Jiraiya a note everyday before in case the man somehow came while Naruto wasn't here.

Naruto knew that Jiraiya may not be concerned about Naruto but he would still be worried about what Tsunade would do to him if something happened to Naruto. Thus, Naruto wrote the note and went off to the forest outside the village where they were staying.

Naruto spent the entire fourth day training vigorously and ended up collapsing and subsequently falling asleep at some time late into the night. The next couple days, he awoke and resumed training happy that he was improving the jutsu he was currently having difficulty doing multiple times in succession. The jutsu was a wind jutsu that allowed multiple miniature whirlwinds to cover the opponent effectively rendering him immobile. If the whirlwind pass through rocks are trees on the way to the enemy it could use the rocks or branches to maim the enemy. Finally towards the evening of the seventh day he was able to do the jutsu four times in succession but that was not enough for Naruto. He wanted to go higher and somehow managed to do five. However, his chakra was almost completely depleted. Naturally that was time he would be attacked; five masked figures materialized around him and began attacking.

As the battle began, Naruto acknowledged that his chakra was almost gone and he was exhausted, running merely on adrenaline. The opponents on the hand were clearly strong and fully capable; Naruto wasn't going to last very long. Naruto also noticed that he didn't recognize most of the jutsus they were using and was forced on the defensive.

His shadow clones were quickly falling and Naruto **knew** he didn't have the energy to make any more but he also knew that he didn't have the strength to pull of any other jutsu either so he tried to summon a shadow clone anyway. In doing so, Naruto ended up dispelling his henge and only summoning two shadow clones.

Soon shuriken went through those and Naruto stood panting, eyes narrowing as one of his attackers spoke up, "Don't forget the instructions! It needs to be delayed for a few hours slow and painful."

A few of the other members chuckled as they nodded and reached for their weapons. At least fifteen shuriken shot towards Naruto and pierced his skin. Naruto fell backwards on to the floor and his assailants took off into the trees.

As he lay on the ground immobile adrenaline slowly ebbing away, Naruto took stock of his injuries and the shuriken embedded within him. None of them hit any vital organs but with the large amount of them Naruto knew it would be only a matter of hours before he would die from the blood loss.

Knowing there was nothing he could do but refusing to acknowledge the fact, Naruto tried to pull the shuriken out himself. He only managed to pull one out before exhaustion and blood loss caused him to fall unconscious.

Jiraiya scowled as he headed through the forest. Why did the brat decide to go off on his own? Jiraiya looked up at the sky; the sun was beginning to set and Jiraiya still hadn't found Naruto. Finally Jiraiya stumbled across a clearing in the forest that was clearly used for training recently perhaps a couple days ago. Looking around he noticed that the destruction continued in towards the left. Jiraiya headed left following the destruction for a few hours hoping that it would lead him to Naruto. As he hopped through the trees, a part of him was quite impressed. If this was indeed Naruto's trail that meant that the brat had blown through more than 45 kilometers worth of forest.

Jiraiya sighed, thinking that he should probably congratulate the boy when he saw him. His thoughts came to a halt as he smelt an all too familiar scent: blood. If possible, Jiraiya began to go even faster. Finally he reached a clearing that was filled with much more destruction than that of the trail. In fact, it looked as if a battle occurred here.

Jiraiya looked around and noticed a prone form on the ground. He headed closer and immediately noticed the numerous wounds and shuriken on the the body. He also noted with anger that the figure was female.

Judging from the amount of blood and the shallow breathing, the woman was alive but would die soon if not treated quickly. Quickly but carefully, Jiraiya began to remove the shurikens and heavily wrapping the wounds with gauze in order to stop the bleeding. Reaching a particular deep one, Jiraiya braced the woman and pulled swiftly, cursing as the woman let out a whimper but remained unconscious.

Finally all the shuriken were removed and the major wounds were treated and Jiraiya decided that he couldn't simply leave the woman here. As he headed back to the hotel room, he ran his eyes over the woman. Her hair was matted with blood but Jiraiya knew she was a blonde.

She also had very nice slim body with lean muscle, a figure that many girls would die for. Jiraiya sighed as he brought her straight through the window.

Just as he was about to set the girl down, her eyes flashed open and she jumped out his hold, back against the wall in a defensive crouch.

Suddenly her eyes widened as she looked at him. She opened her mouth to say something only to close it again and and fall against the wall and relax slightly.

Seeing as the girl was not about to speak first, Jiraiya decided to go ahead, "I found you unconscious and dying in the woods while searching for my student. You looked like you were attacked. What happened? Better yet, who are you?"

Naruto came to awareness slowly and disoriented. All he knew was that he was being set down somewhere by someone. Suddenly the memories of being attacked came to him and he jumped back in a defensive position.

Looking up, he realized that his "assailant" was none other than the Toad Sage. He glanced down at himself and inwardly winced as he slumped to the ground, his body unwilling to hold him up.

Unbeknownst to him sometime during the fight or after it his henge had dissolved. He tried to explain but couldn't find the words so instead decided to close his mouth and actually think about what he would say before he said it.

He sighed as he realised there wasn't really a good way to explain so instead he remained silent. When Jiraiya asked his questions, Naruto opted to be as honest as possible because he knew that Jiraiya could probably sense if he was lying.

He sighed, "I was attacked while trying to train. I have no idea who they were or why they were here but I can guess it was probably to kill me. Thank you for saving me."

Jiraiya nodded swiftly, "Why don't you stay here and rest? I need to go out and find my student?"

 _He probably noticed that I didn't answer that last question but hasn't said anything._ Naruto thought in relief, _Maybe I can leave and reapply the henge in the forest so that Jiraiya can find me._

Naruto made a move to get up but ended up mentally swearing up a storm as his body, no, his entire being protested. _There goes that plan._ Naruto mused. _**Well**_ _, here goes nothing._

Jiraiya had apparently decided not to wait for Naruto's answer and was almost to the window when Naruto called out, "Jiraiya-sama, wait!"

Jiraiya turned around so fast, Naruto would have laughed if not for the serious and threatening expression on his face, "How do you know my name?"

Naruto sighed; he would have to reveal the truth but he could still have a little fun, "Come on! Just because I don't call you Ero-sennin anymore doesn't mean you forget about me!"

Jiraiya relaxed slightly before his eyebrows furrowed, "Naruto? But how? When?"

Naruto laughed bitterly, "How what? How am I a girl? I'm not too sure. Kind of interesting, eh? I doubt you saw that coming. I doubt anyone saw it coming. As for when, it's been a while. I learned to deal with it."

Jiraiya sighed and sank to the floor as he tried to process what this girl who was actually Naruto?, was saying. His student was actually a girl and he had never known. How did he miss something so big? There were signs, some real small and some big. He did seem to get moody for around the same time every month in a way that screamed it was that time of the month but that had only started recently. Even so, he should have connected the dots.

As if sensing his thoughts, Naruto spoke up, "I was careful. Too careful for you to actually pay attention until you already knew. I wasn't always a girl so no need to feel like you are incapable," Naruto laughed but this laugh wasn't bitter but hollow and sent shivers down Jiraiya's spine, "The universe couldn't even turn me into a complete girl. I am only a girl at night. I was cursed during a mission I took about a year ago. I know you have met me on multiple occasions in that timeframe but you weren't there for very long.

Don't beat yourself over it."

Jiraiya sighed and fell back. He understood Naruto's point but didn't want to believe it. How could he have not realized? There was nothing that could be done. He would have to pay more attention to things and figure it out the future as it came.

One thing he knew was that the slight affection he had felt for Naruto went up significantly and morphed into fierce protectiveness.

The kid was always so happy but he knew from the small tidbits of the information that his past was not the best. He knew that the kid was an orphan and life was tough on them but the way the kid hadn't really looked angry when he said the that the world wasn't kind enough to allow him to completely transform told him Naruto's childhood was a far cry from what he thought it had been. The kid didn't look resigned when he told Jiraiya. He had simply said it coolly and nonchalantly as if he were talking about the weather. He said it as if he had expected the universe to do that to him.

As he mulled over what could have happened to Naruto to make him think this was his lot in life, a thought occurred to him and he spoke up, "Didn't anyone else notice?"

Naruto laughed that hollow laugh once more before responding, his voice distant, "Do you honestly think anyone actually pays attention? To me of all people? Don't you know how much the villagers hate me? The same goes for most of the Shinobi. I have a few friends amongst the shinobi but even they get busy with their own lives. They have no reason to burden themselves with me, even my parents seemed eager to get rid of me…"

The last sentence was said so quietly Jiraiya struggled to hear but hearing it made his heart clench in guilt.

Was that really what Naruto thought? The poor kid I need to change that. Didn't Sarutobi let him know what happened or at least that his parents died to save this village? The self-loathing underlying his voice hurt Jiraiya. He promised himself that he would do whatever he could to let the blonde haired jinnchiruki know he should be loved and there were people who cared about him.

 **Hope you liked it! Please leave a review on your way out.**


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